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Zhathena
Zhathena ʒa.'ðe.na is mostly a personal language, but I'm also in the process of connecting it to a specific society and culture. Zhatena is the language spoken by a small group of people called the Zhurivi on an island in the eastern Mediterranean. This language was in existence during the Ancient Greek period, but has no apparent relation to other languages of the area and was wiped out very quickly after it came into contact with the Greek language. This was a very peaceful society in which towns and regions were governed by guilds of primarily female poets. Poetry and song were very important and good, artistic, lyrical writing and speaking skills were seen as proof of intelligence, strength, and wisdom. (all this is subject to change, this language is very new and unformed) Classification and Dialects Phonology Consonants Zhathena has sixteen consonant sounds. Vowels Zhathena has seven vowel sounds, including five pure vowel, one diphthong, and one reduced vowel. The lone diphthong is /ej/. Stress Patterns Stress most commonly occurs on the penultimate syllable, with a few exceptions, which will be noted as they appear. The only regular exception to the rule of penultimate stress is the creation of the singular accusative case. When the accusative suffix k or ɪk is added, the stress remains on the same syllable it was on before the addition of the inflectional accusative suffix. Besides this, all irregular stresses will be noted. Phonotactics Writing System I'm just using simple IPA throughout this grammar. There will be a different writing system eventually, but it's not my priority right now. Grammar Nouns Nouns have singular and plural numbers and nominative and accusative cases. There are several irregular declining nouns which will be marked (irg). Singular nominative The nominative case of singular nouns may end in a vowel or consonant. Singular accusative With a few exceptions, adding the suffix -k to the nominative singular indicates accusative case. Allomorphy''' occurs, with -k attaching to nouns that end in an open syllable and -ɪk attaching to nouns that end in a closed syllable. '''Plural nominative The plural nominative is formed by attaching a suffix to the singular. Allomorphy''' occurs, with the suffix -a attaching to closed syllables and -si attaching to open syllables. Adding these suffixes shifts the stress to the syllable directly preceding the suffix. Occasionally, the antepenultimate syllable will undergo vowel reduction or the penultimate syllable will undergo vowel "expansion" as stress is moved to it (as in the word miðɪn, see below). '''Plural accusative The plural accusative is formed by adding the suffix -k to the plural nominative form. The stress and vowel reduction patterns remain the same. EXAMPLES: Pronouns Because verbs decline significantly, these nominative pronouns are rarely used. They can be used for emphasis. Although there is a gender distinction in the pronouns, it is rarely used in the subject position. ʒej is used as the assumed pronoun for humans, if gender is neither male or female, unknown, or unimportant – although this distinction is generally only made in the accusative and dative cases since this is a null-subject language. Verbs Present Tense Verbs that conjugate regularly will have the suffix -at in the infinitive form and will take these suffixes in conjugation: Past Tense Verbs that conjugate regularly will add the suffix -iv before the personal endings to express past tense: Future Tense Imperatives Adjectives Adjectives decline in nominative and accusative cases like nouns do, but there is no plural distinction. Common adjective suffixes are -je and -lɪs, although there is no consistent way of marking adjectives. These suffixes are mostly used to create new adjectives from nouns or verbs, but they also appear in several of the most commonly used adjective in the language. Comparative and Superlative Zhathena has both positive and negative comparatives and superlatives The postive comparative and superlative are marked by two suffixes: -ul in the comparative, and -ural in the superlative. The negative comparative and superlative are marked by two suffixes: -ed in the comparative, and -eðal in the superlative. When attaching to the common adjective suffix -je, these comparative and superlative suffixes removed the e. EXAMPLES: Adverbs Adverbs are either identical to their adjective counterparts, or can be derived by adding the suffix -hu after removing the adjective suffixes -je or -lɪs, if necessary. complete ––> completely : asejza ––> asejzahu good –––> well, good (adverb) : ʒaje ––> ʒahu Syntax Lexicon : Main article: Zhathena Lexicon Example text Category:Languages Category:Zhathena